News Bites: Stallone on ‘Poe’, ‘Toxic Avenger’, Eyegore Honorees

All of a sudden we were hit with a windstorm of news, so beyond the break you’ll find the best of the rest including details on the Toxic Avenger Broadway show, an update on Stalone’s Edgar Allan Poe feature Poe and a list of honorees for this year’s Eyegore Awards, taking place tomorrow at the opening of Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights.TOXIE SINGS HIS LUNGS OUT

Off Broadway tuner “The Toxic Avenger” will launch a national tour in fall 2010.

Show has been playing at Gotham’s New World Stages for about six months, following a preem last year at the George Street Playhouse in New Jersey.

“Toxic Avenger” producers Jean Cheever and Tom Polum have signed a deal with legit booking agency On the Road (“Burn the Floor,” “Hairspray,” “Spring Awakening”) to handle the upcoming tour.

Based on the 1985 cult pic, tuner has music by Bon Jovi member David Bryan and book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro, the duo that also collaborated on “Memphis,” which opens on Broadway later this month. John Rando directs.

Exact dates and tour stops for “Toxic” remain to be confirmed. In the meantime, a Toronto production is set to open Oct. 31.

It’s been quite some time since we’ve heard anything about the Sylvester Stallone-Edgar Allan Poe project, sinply titled Poe. In lieu of Lionsgate’s The Expendable, magazine/website Empire caught up with the writer-director-producer-star who updated the status on the long-gestured project.

Unfortunately, Stallone confirms that he won’t be starring, “Of course, I’m not playing Poe. ‘Yo, Poe!’ It won’t work! It’ll be some young actor because he dies at 39, but it’s gonna happen.” Robert Downey Jr. has been rumored for the role.

Considered the granddaddy of the Gothic horror tale, Poe’s life is rich with its own eerie details. He suffered from madness, depression and drugs, and was mysteriously found dead in a gutter in 1849. Among his most famous works were “The Raven” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.”